Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A Bloom within a Bloom

This is a picture of a Cynthia Anne blossom bud displaying a viviparous characteristic. The flower bud never did open up, and instead, it is sprouting a new plant from inside the bud. The new plantlet appears to developing its own roots, which you can see on the left side of the bud, and in addition to developing 4 leaves, it also has its own flower bud. This type of occurance is common to several varieties of tropical water lilies (generally a new plantlet occurs from the leaf rather than the bloom). Feedback from the Water Gardeners International group indicates that many of the Kirk Strawn hybrid lilies with parentage with N. mexicana are viviparous.

1 comment:

The Prodigal Son said...

Hang on, I didn't think Cynthia Anne was a vivip! Are you certain about the naming? Thats so cool it came from the bud!